Expand e-resource availability and visibility

"With one platform we can now offer access to more resources for more students. And as a result of streamlined workflows, we will be better positioned to allocate more staff to services and to assist students with additional research needs."

David BrydenDirector, High Point University Library

For many academic libraries, supporting the need for a complete discovery experience has become a two-way street. On the one hand, faculty and students need access to the best, most authoritative content available. On the other, libraries are often tasked with providing access and support for special collections with wide-ranging appeal. The visibility of these unique materials is a major asset for universities seeking to attract students, grants and favorable publicity.

For High Point University Libraries, the move to WorldShare® Management Services and WorldCat® Local services answered both needs.

"The move to OCLC brought so much content to our library," Library Director David Bryden said. "Where before you’d have to go to five or six different search engines to find content—especially historical content—now with WorldCat Local you’re getting OAIster, HathiTrust materials and all that digital content that’s out there in archives. It’s been just a wonderful, wonderful addition to the library as far as content’s concerned."

"[As a growing institution], one of the best things we did was our changeover to WorldCat Local and WorldShare Management Services with OCLC, just because it brought so much content to the library."

In terms of driving attention back to local collections, David is equally pleased. "Other libraries can see the content we have, and so now they're doing interlibrary loans with us. We were a net borrower for the previous two years, because we're a growing campus. Now we're a net lender."

Information seekers across the Web can now find High Point materials through the additional visibility the materials receive as part of the university's WorldCat Local subscription. OCLC syndication programs surface eligible WorldCat library materials through more than 300 partner sites, such as GoogleScholar, EasyBib, Mendeley, Blackboard Mosaic and more.

"Now everyone out in the world can see our electronic content. And that's been a really great change," David said.

*Note: OCLC is combining the features of WorldCat Local and OCLC FirstSearch® into the new WorldCat Discovery Services. WorldCat Local and WorldShare Management Services subscriptions include access to WorldCat Discovery and all optional features.

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Library at a glance

Located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina

America's Best Colleges 2014 Edition, published in the U.S. News & World Report, ranked HPU No. 1 among all regional colleges in the South and No. 1 among "Up and Coming Schools in Regional Colleges in the South" for the second consecutive year